


Summers' Sisters Slaying

by Lyri



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Demon fighting, Gen, Gen Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:53:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27745531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyri/pseuds/Lyri
Summary: Buffy and Dawn fight a demon together.
Kudos: 5





	Summers' Sisters Slaying

**Author's Note:**

> Another fic for my bingo - since it's due in a couple days, this is likly the last one. But this was fun! I might do it again some time!

Buffy Summers lets herself in through the back door of the house. It's late, almost two in the morning, but a Slayer's work is never done, as they say. 

She hates it now more than ever, now that her mother is gone. At least before, she knew she wasn't leaving Dawn home alone when she went out on patrol. Now, she just has to trust that her little sister has learned enough to keep herself alive if anything did attack the house.

Buffy lays her weapons on the kitchen counter, a repeating crossbow, stake, dagger and cross. She started out as the Vampire Slayer, but there's so much more out there now that she needs to be prepared for anything.

Yawning loudly, Buffy crosses to the fridge and takes out the sandwich she'd prepared earlier, pouring herself a glass of milk as well. She heads for the living room, ready for a late night snack and some mindless TV before she tries to get at least a few hours of sleep.

Buffy stumbles to a halt as she enters the living room, startled to see her sister leaning over the back of the couch and staring out through the front window.

“Dawnie?” Buffy asks. “What's going on?”

“There's police cars outside the house across the street,” Dawn answers, distracted.

“What?” Coming in through the back door – as had become her practice after her secret had been revealed and she no longer had to use the bedroom window – Buffy hadn't noticed any sort of commotion.

“I got up to pee, saw flashing lights,” Dawn explains, “so I came down here to check it out and saw just the one police car. I still needed to pee, so I did that and when I got back to the window, there was another car there. They left the doors open on this one, like they ran in there in a hurry.”

Buffy sets her glass and plate down on the coffee table and takes up a position next to Dawn on the couch. “Why didn't you call me?”

Without looking away from the scene out the window, Dawn points to the side table next to the couch, where Buffy spots the cellphone she bought the day after her mother's funeral, so that Dawn – and everyone else – always had a way of getting in touch with her. But actually remembering to take the thing with her when she left the house was proving difficult.

Mouth twisting in annoyance, Buffy turns back to the window and the flashing lights. “No one's come outside? You haven't heard anything?”

Dawn shakes her head before she turns to look at the clock on the mantle. “I went to the bathroom about a half hour ago, been sitting here ever since, but I haven't seen anyone. I kinda wondered if _I_ should call the police, just to get someone else down here.”

“We can't risk anyone else,” Buffy points out.

“What if it's just a plain, old, horrifying, but not supernatural, domestic?”

Buffy tries to conjure up an image of the person or persons who lived in the single story house directly across from the Summers' residence, but she's coming up blank, which isn't really surprising, considering her extra curriculars. 

“Do you know who lives there?”

Dawn nods. “Mrs. Danvers.”

“Your third grade teacher?”

“She didn't live there when I was in her class, awkward, right? She moved in a little while after. I think it was during that time when you ran away and abandoned us all.”

Buffy side-eyes her. “Focus, please.”

Dawn smirks. “From what I can tell, she lives there by herself. Her husband ran off with some younger girl and her kids are all grown up and living somewhere else. So unless she's dating someone, she's on her on in there.”

“So, probably _not_ a domestic.”

“Could be a burglary.”

“I think, technically, it's a robbery, if people have been hurt.” Buffy sighs. “Well, this being Sunnydale and all, I guess I should check it out.”

That perks Dawn up. “Can I come with you?”

Buffy pauses for a moment, considering. It's not like Dawn will be going inside, and their house, with all the protection spells Willow and Tara could come up with, is only a few yards away, so she can make Dawn book it back home if needs be.

“Fine, but bring a weapon.”

Dawn claps her hands in excitement as she rushes to pull on boots and a coat over her pajamas. She grabs a dagger from the front closet, something Giles had given her for Christmas last year that blew all their other gifts out of the water, and Buffy had spent a lot of money on that Discman.

They go out through the backdoor, Buffy picking up the crossbow as she passes, and Dawn grumbles as they take the long way, but Buffy reminds her that she's been doing this for a long time and that shuts Dawn up.

They sneak into the backyard of the house next door to Mrs. Danvers, then hop the fence into her yard and creep carefully to the nearest window.

“It's dark,” Dawn pouts with a whisper and Buffy rolls her eyes and moves them to the next window, which is apparently dining room.

And here, they can actually see something, but Buffy really wishes they couldn't see anything at all. Next to her, Dawn looks a little green.

Mrs. Danvers is dead, that much is obvious, what with the way she's spread out on the floor with her stomach ripped open, but she clearly got to the phone and dialed 911 before she bled out or went into shock from the pain. The phone is still in her hand.

The four police officers are spread out around the room in various positions, one of them also having had his guts ripped out, expect, with this one, there's some... _thing_...playing with what looks like the cop's intestines and Buffy turns as green as Dawn.

“What's it doing?” Buffy's sister asks and the Slayer has to swallow hard before she can answer.

“I think...I think it's trying to...tell the future?”

Dawn turns to stare at her, incredulous.

“Some demons and witches can read things, like tea leaves.”

“Like having your fortune told by the lady at the county fair with the crystal ball?”

“Exactly, only some use bones, sometimes human, or blood or-”

“Or a police officer's digestive tract.”

“For example.”

Dawn heaves for a coupe of seconds before she gets her gag reflex under control. “Do you know what kind of demon it is?”

“No, which also means I don't really know how to kill it. Cutting off its head might make two grow back in it's place.”

“So what do we do?”

“You are going to go back to the house and call Giles and Willow. One of them is bound to know something.”

Dawn opens her mouth, no doubt about to say something about not leaving Buffy alone, then clearly thinks better of it and rushes away in the same direction they came in.

Buffy watches until she's out of sight before she turns back to the window.

In just the few minutes her gaze was somewhere else, the demon has moved on to another one of the cops and it's digging claws into the bright shock of ginger hair.

Nothing much phases the Slayer; after six years of professional demon killing, she's pretty much seen everything. But Buffy is definitely phased as she watched the demon peel off the top of the ginger cop's head like the lid from a can of Pringles and starts poking around in the brains it uncovers.

“This is so nasty,” Buffy whispers to herself. She looks around, trying to figure out what to do, because waiting for Giles might not be an option. She takes one last look at the macabre scene in front of her then she slinks away towards the front of the house.

The police cars are still there, lights still flashing, and Buffy heads to the one with the doors still open. A check up and down the street proves the place is still quiet, neighbors staying inside their houses, long since grown used to keeping their heads down when it comes to seeing weird things.

Buffy hunts through the car as fast as she can, just to see if there's anything useful in it, so that she doesn't have to return to her own weapons cache before she heads inside to confront that thing.

But all she finds is a nightstick, a few cans of mace and some handcuffs.

“Sunnydale's well funded police force,” she mutters to herself as she puts the mace into the back pockets of her jeans and heads back to the house, this time, planning on using the front door.

“Psst!” someone says loudly as she reaches for the door and she turns sharply to see Dawn stumbling across Mrs. Danvers' front yard, loaded down with various weapons from Buffy's personal arsenal.

“What are you doing?” Buffy hisses, rushing to meet her.

“I called Giles, he's on his way and he said he would call Willow, but I figured you wouldn't want to wait that long so I brought back up.”

Buffy glares at her. “Are you supposed to be the back up? Because I think Elmo might be better back up right now.”

“Hey!” Dawn pouts again, but Buffy just gives her a grin and pulls a huge ax from Dawn's stash and keeps the crossbow in her free hand.

Dawn drops the rest of her pile next to the police cars, but keeps hold of her dagger.

“Stay here,” Buffy orders.

Dawn snorts. “Ooh, mace!” she says gleefully, snagging one of the cans from her sister's pocket.

“Dawn,” Buffy tries again but Dawn just looks at her.

“What? I know you're the big bad Slayer and you can take care of yourself, but you still need someone to watch your back. Willow and Giles and Xander aren't here, so you're left with me.”

Reluctantly, Buffy relents. “Stay out of the way and keep that weapon up.”

Dawn salutes her, and Buffy can do nothing but roll her eyes and head back to the house.

The front door of Mrs. Danvers' house is hanging off it's hinges, probably from where the demon slammed it's way through it, and the Summers' sisters having to pick their way over broken glass and smashed furniture. It's like this creature wanted to do as much damage as possible before it got to it's intended victim.

Buffy motions Dawn for her to remain in the living room, handing off the crossbow as she does so, and Dawn nods, hefting her dagger and stays by the couch as Buffy tiptoes towards the opening to the dining room. Quietly and carefully, while the demon is still engrossed in it's gross task, the Slayer raises the axe, creeping silently up behind the demon, ready to take it's head right off it's shoulders.

It's mumbling to itself, Buffy can hear, now that she's inside with it, muttering under it's breath and it does not sound happy with whatever it's not finding in Ginger Cop's brains.

Buffy ignores it, because it really doesn't matter what kind of fly has found it's way into this thing's ointment, it just needs to go away now.

Until two words, two tiny words, knocked Buffy's feet out from under her. Metaphorically speaking.

“The Key,” the demon mumbles, poking a finger deep into the gray matter, and behind Buffy, Dawn hears it, too, and let's out an involuntary squeak.

It's not loud, more of an inhalation than anything, but it's enough to distract the demon and it pauses it's explorations to turn and instantly, it's eyes light on Dawn, it's expression, if it can be called such a thing, brightens and it stumbles to it's feet.

Buffy's faster, though, and she spins on her heels and races towards her sister, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her out of the house. Dawn stumbles of her own feet, but she keeps up, slamming into the doorjamb as Buffy pulls her back outside, the demon, obviously, lumbering after them.

Dawn pulls herself free as soon as they reach the grass of Mrs. Danvers' front yard and spins away from Buffy.

“Dawn!” Buffy yells, but her sister ignores her and raises the crossbow she's still carrying and aims it at the demon. The first bolts lodges itself in the demon's upper arm, knocking it off balance and it slams into the wall of the house. The crossbow reloads and Dawn's next shot hits mid-thigh and the demon crumbles to it's version of knees.

Dawn turns to glare at Buffy. “Go. Fight. Kill.” Then she throws Buffy her dagger and runs towards the nearest police car. She throws herself into the back seat, pulling the door closed behind her.

Wasting no more time, Buffy turns to face her opponent, just now getting back to it's feet, and throws herself into the fight, weapons and feet flying furiously as she does everything she can to protect her sister.

She buries the axe in the demon's shoulder, cleaving it clean off, but it doesn't even slow down, ambling forward on too-big feet.

“Okay, what's the trick here?” Buffy asks it as she ducks a swing from an overly long arm, claws sweeping through her blonde hair, pulling a few strands free. “Is there an off button?” She sinks the dagger into the thing's chest, but it just pulls it right out again. “Not there, then.”

“Try the base of the spine,” calls a familiar voice from behind her and she risks a glance over her shoulder to see Giles rushing from his car, parked awkwardly in front of the Summers' house. “It's Amblorian.”

“Like that means anything to me,” Buffy mutters, but she dives for the discarded dagger anyway. She stays down low, rolling around on the grass as the demon stumbles above her. Buffy cries out as the demon stamps down on her, luckily, dagger-less hand, but she stays focused and finally manages to come up behind the demon and slams her boot into the back of it's knee, forcing it down. An elbow to it's head and it's flat out on the ground, and Buffy uses every bit of strength she has to shove the dagger into the base of the demon's spine. It lets out a piercing scream that makes Buffy cover her ears and take a few steps back, knocking into Giles.

The demon convulses and sputters before finally falling still in the grass.

“What happened?” Giles asks, sounding breathless.

Buffy pushes her hair out of her hair. “It was looking for Dawn. I guess it found a general location but couldn't narrow it down further.” She points towards the house. “It was looking for more clues.”

“Presumably on Glory's orders,” Giles points out.

“Probably. God, is this ever going to end?”

“One way or another, I'm afraid, just as always.”

“We need to find Glory, Giles. Before she finds Dawn.”

Giles nods. “Willow and I will continue with our research first thing in the morning. I'm thinking about reaching out to Wesley, see if he can offer a fresh insight.”

“Whatever helps me keep Dawn safe.”

“Speaking of, where is Dawn?”

Just as the words have left Giles mouth, the sound of frantic knocking on glass attracts there's attention and they turn to the police car to see Dawn madly banging on the window as she pulls fruitlessly at the handle of the door.

Buffy bursts out laughing as she watches her sister.

“What's happening?” Giles asks, bemused.

“You can't open the back door of a police car from the inside. Otherwise, all the criminals would just...jump out at the red lights.”

“Oh, yes, obviously.”

Dawn grows more and more frantic as Buffy just stands and watches, cocking her head to one side. “Can we just keep her in there? She's probably more safe in there than she has been since the monks made her not be a big ball of energy.”

“She'll have to use the bathroom at some point, Buffy,” Giles points out.

It's Buffy's turn to pout, but she crosses the grass to the car and opens the door, stepping back suddenly as Dawn literally spills out.

“Not funny,” she bites as she picks herself up.

“Little funny.”

Dawn wrinkles her nose as she stares at the corpse. “That thing smells funny.”

Giles sighs. “Willow and Tara are on their way. They can deal with the corpse, but...”

As he trails off, Buffy finishes his thought. “But they can't really do anything about the four dead cops in the house.”

“Quite.”

Dawn frowns. “We really need to get a friend on the force. That must be so convenient.”

“Well, until that happens,” Buffy says with a sigh, “we have to figure out some sort of cover story for the brutal murder of four of Sunnydale's finest.”

“Well, my acting skills are, ah, rusty, as they say, so I think perhaps I'll leave this to you ladies to figure out,” Giles stammers.

“Willow took the actual acting class. We'll make her do it,” Buffy says with a shrug.

Just as she says that, another car pulls up and Willow jumps out.

“Aw, did I miss all the excitement?”

Dawn just shakes her head and starts walking back towards their house. “I'm going to bed. Have fun with the clean up!” She waves her dagger in the air and Buffy just chuckles after her.

“It's nice that she's becoming comfortable with all the death and mayhem.” She frowns. “I should probably worry.”

“Can you worry tomorrow?” Willow asks with a wince. “We're kinda on a clock here.”

“I'm sleeping in tomorrow,” Buffy says with a glare as she turns back towards Mrs. Danvers' house, preparing herself to pick up the phone and lie to the police.

Again.


End file.
